15th International Academic Conference 14th April

0 downloads 0 Views 582KB Size Report
mastery of professional and business communication skills, creative thinking, ethical ... Within the Fortune 500 today, about 70% of the companies have formalized .... mentoring, the relationship exists to address a certain issue, challenge, ...
15th International Academic Conference 14th April – 17th April 2015 Rome, Italy DANIELA ILIEVA-KOLEVA VUZF University Sofia [email protected]

THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORING PROGRAMS IN BUSINESS

ABSTRACT Mentoring has been used as a useful personal development tool in both business and academia. Many business organizations apply mentoring programs as part of the staff recruiting and staff development programs. Mentoring programs are important not only for business but also to serve as a bridge between business and academia. This article aims to examine the current positioning of mentoring programs in organizations in the Bulgarian business environment and to compare them with organizational mentoring programs in other developed countries. The author will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of mentoring programs in business, as well as the positive and negative outcomes of such development programs. The article will draw conclusions in the context of the analysis and will make suggestions for future improvements in the Bulgarian business mentoring programs as a strategic tool for staff recruitment and staff development.

KEYWORDS: education, communication, business communication, student communication, interpersonal communication, human resource management, mentoring, mentoring program, human resource development.

1. Introduction The interaction between business and academia has a significant importance for the creation of a sustainable labor market and for the education of an adapted highly skilled and flexible labor force on a national and European level. However, sometimes this

collaboration manifests some weaknesses and provokes some mismatches between business needs and young graduates’ competences and expectations. A business mentoring program can serve as a forum for observation, practice and mastery of professional and business communication skills, creative thinking, ethical decision making, teamwork, interpersonal skills, and social responsibility. Being very flexible, the program might be used exclusively for learning and teaching purposes, for career development purposes, or for both at a time. Successful business mentoring programs match mentors with experienced staff to speed time to competency while also transferring knowledge and increasing internal talent. Within the Fortune 500 today, about 70% of the companies have formalized mentoring programs.1 In other companies, about half have some kind of mentoring function in place. The most successful and long-term programs tend to be structured with organized mentor/mentee profiles, training on mentoring best practices, and instruction on using mentoring software. The mentoring pair commits to work together for a period of time, usually up to a year. Some mentors work with more than one employee and may also be mentees themselves. Business mentoring is often confused with management consulting and business coaching, but it is in many ways different. 

 

Management consulting is based on the expertise, knowledge, skill set and technology of the consultant. The consultant's skill set is focused on building their own internal resources, in order to apply them for the client company's benefit. Business coaching assumes that the client has the necessary capability and helps them to discover it for themselves. Business mentoring targets the personal development of people who are Theyll versed in their fundamental technical skills but need extra assistance in other skills areas, expertise or knowledge.1

They also need to differentiate between the different types of supervising in a business relation in order to define mentoring as such. •

1

Guiding: the process of directing an individual or a group along the path leading from present state to a desired state

UK: Business Mentoring – A Guide For Mentors And Mentees, TCii Strategic and Management Consultants, 2011



Coaching: helping another person to improve awareness, to set and achieve goals in order to improve a particular behavioral performance



Teaching: helping an individual or group develop cognitive skills and capabilities



Mentoring: helping to shape an individual’s beliefs and values in a positive way; often a longer term career relationship from someone who has ‘done it before’



Counselling: helping an individual to improve performance by resolving situations from the past.2

Mentoring is also often confused with “coaching”, and we need to clarify the difference in order to avoid confusion of the two terms. Figure 1. Mentoring and Coaching content

Mentoring

Coaching

relationship oriented

task oriented

long term

short term

development driven

performance driven

requires a design phase

does not require design

self-selected

comes with a job

strategy

skills

life

task (job) - related •

Source: own figure based on research

2. The Mentoring Process

2

Coaching and mentoring – the difference, Brefi Group Resources, found at: http://www.brefigroup.co.uk

Many strategic documents mention that SMEs are the backbone of the European economy comprising 99% of all business. The main factors for the economic growth are the investments in human resources in the context of new skills for new jobs. A business mentoring program can influence human resources in different aspects. Figure 2. The Mentoring Process

Info Sessions

Web communicat ion

Mentoring Education Educational Sessions

Inputs

Business Public Sector

Mentoring Program Academia

Participants

Outcomes

Source: own figure

The first general impact affecting all target groups is directly related to the development of human assets. Currently more than ever, the contemporary economic relations in most industries consider human assets as more important than physical and financial assets. Physical assets can be bought and financial are readily available in the capital markets. The human factor, on the contrary, is the source of innovation and creation of value which makes the company a highlight among competitors and increases the potential to gain market advantages. Formal education is not sufficient enough as practice is considered more valuable than theoretical knowledge. A business mentoring program will help both mentors and mentees to develop their potential and upgrade their expertise. The second general impact is the transfer of so-called "tacit" knowledge which is difficult to encode and store in writing or database. This type of know-how is not available for all but it is often extremely important for one’s career development. Therefore, mentoring provides a channel for the transmission of tacit knowledge from one generation

to another especially from experienced to beginners. This tacit knowledge is out of the textbooks and ordinary lectures, but it is essential that it is passed to future generations. The business mentoring program could serve as a tool for observation and analysis of companies‘ needs for knowledge and skills in order to adapt and improve the educational content and process to the fast changing labor market. The third impact on the target groups is aimed at the recruitment and retention of the right people. The economic damage caused by the World financial and economic crisis shifted layers of the supply and demand of labor. More than ever the business insists on qualified and more adaptive labor force. In every single strategic document in the field of education and/or labor market the link between educational institutions and employers is highlighted. The E-mentor platform will strongly help to reduce the imbalances between supply and demand of qualified labor force. By increasing the awareness and the understanding of labor environment and different professional activities, students are better orientated in the start of their careers and it is easy for them to find quickly a job that corresponds to their studies and expectations. This will help to increase the duration of their first labor experiences and so to decrease employees turn over in companies. There are some studies from the US where the mentoring process is well-known within the companies, which shows the difference between people who passed through mentoring programс and those who have not. Rresearchers looked at data from more than 1,000 employees over a five-year period. The study concluded that, “mentoring has a positive impact on mentors and mentees, producing employees that are more highly valued by the business”. The study also found that 25 % of employees who took part in the company’s mentoring program had a salary grade change, compared with five percent of employees in a control group who did not participate in the program. And the retention rates Theyre much higher for mentees (72 percent) and mentors (69 percent) than for employees who did not participate in the mentoring program (49 percent). The mentoring approach is recognized by the companies but it is more time-consuming and costly, thus the development of such mentoring programs in the educational system is the more efficient way to have better employees and young people who are ready to accomplish complex tasks from the first day in the world of employment. Mentoring involves a formal or informal developmental partnership where employees receive information, advice, and guidance from an experienced professional, usually within the organization, who has expertise and a strong desire to help others grow in their jobs. Mentoring encompasses coaching, sharing perspectives, and transferring knowledge and wisdom to the mentee(s). The mentor is not a supervisor but a person with whom the employee can communicate freely and honestly without concern about being evaluated.

Mentor/mentee partnerships may exist across lines of business and even across geographies. Most commonly, mentoring occurs on a one-to-one basis where mentor and mentee set goals, meet monthly, and refine goals over the established time frame. Alternatively, mentoring can be group or one-to-many with the mentor meeting (in person or virtually) simultaneously with multiple mentees to discuss a selected topic. Participants benefit from the mentor’s expertise as well as discussions with one another. In situational mentoring, the relationship exists to address a certain issue, challenge, or opportunity, such as becoming comfortable with the new computer system; meetings happen frequently but for a shorter overall time.3 Traditionally mentoring happens face-to-face, but in today’s mobile and dispersed worker world, face-to-face may occur only occasionally. Mentoring groups use telephone conference calls, video conferencing through webcams or desktop/conference room videoconferencing, or even email. Some organizations have mentor managers who make the matches based on employee profiles. The most effective approach — especially with a large mentor program — allows mentees to select their mentors from a software-generated list of close matches. After employees choose from the suggested list, the mentor either: 1) accepts and then mentoring arrangement begins, or 2) declines, gives reasons why, and offers other suggestions. 4 Mentoring program volunteerism matters to success, since forcing employees to engage in mentoring is bound to fail. The mentoring coordinator (usually part of HR or a business unit) should encourage participation and hold orientation and training sessions for both mentors and mentees as frequently as needed. Mentors and mentees must make a commitment to the mentoring process knowing that the relationship requires time and energy. This article is about 1-2-1 business mentoring, not group business mentoring such as you find with Vistage, the Academy for Chief Executives and similar organizations. Group business mentoring can work but tends to be less effective than 1-2-1 business mentoring.

3

Schooley, C., “Drive Employee Talent Development Through Business Mentoring Programs”, Business Process Professionals, 2010 4

Forrester Research, Inc., 2010

The value of business mentoring to the organization At its best, business mentoring is a process that activates the skills of the mentee within their current role and helps groom them for their next. Business mentoring helps them to produce high quality decisions that define them, their authority and their effectiveness. A business mentor provides a confidential sounding board, thinking room, and support for working through crucial and often complex decisions. Business mentoring can also help organizations to retain their best people and increase staff loyalty. The quality achieved in a business mentoring program often hinges on the expertise of those establishing the program in achieving the right fit between mentee and mentor. The best results are often achieved when the mentor and mentee like and respect each other and where the personal chemistry is right. We can conclude and anticipate that a business mentoring program could influence also: 

Company’s revenue growth, profitability and employment;



Decrease in recruitment costs



Decrease of employees turn over and a higher level of satisfaction for employees as well as for employers.



Establishment of a global know-how on mentoring at all business and academic levels applicable internationally;



Establishment of sustainable partnerships with other educational and business institutions in forms of governmental, educational, and private sector partnerships.

3. The Mentee The first expected impact is on mentees as the users of the mentoring service and it can be achieved through the use of modern information and communication technologies, including social media. This target group consists of mostly young people – students, young entrepreneurs (start-up) or those who have started their first job. This target group is in the age group between 18-29 years old and is very active in social media. Therefore, the main methods of disseminating information and involving them in the such an activity and its results, will be through social media and well-maintained project website and web platform.

The main target group on which mentoring has an impact is mentees – most of which are young people. The outcomes of a mentoring program will provide an opportunity to help young people attain developmental assets or life skills needed to better deal with life’s and career’s challenges. By using a business mentoring platform young people will:        

become more self-confident; receive positive influence from peers and adults – professionals, who encourage them to be and do their best; feel part of a team and be ready to contribute to the community; receive new practical advises and extend their scope of interests; better understand the chosen profession and learn to respect it; receive variety of learning experiences, including the desire for academic success and a belief in their own abilities; develop positive values and principles and social competencies; create career opportunities.

A business mentor, by virtue of their experience, will be able to help the mentee steer through the organization. Perhaps more importantly, the business mentor will help the mentee to understand some of the more informal ways of getting things done and some of the unwritten and unstated ways of working (the world of corporate politics!), and therefore develop the mentee's professional expertise and career. The business mentor is someone with whom the mentee can discuss and work through concerns or opportunities that they may not want to expose to their immediate superior. Indeed, it may be that the superior is one of the mentee's concerns. Remember, the superior may well be under pressure to come up with short-term deliverables, and may therefore not be sympathetic to the mentee's longer-term career goals. The mentee may feel that they are working in an environment that does not fit with their preferred ways of working. They may not even be aware of this, perhaps just having an undefined feeling of things not being quite right. Talking with someone such as a business mentor, who can bring a wider perspective, may help the mentee to recognize what is happening and identify the culture that is right for them. 4. The Mentor The second target group impacted by a mentoring program are those who provide mentoring services – mentors. These are usually proven professionals, managers, developers, researchers, and teachers. This target group is very active in conferences, workshops, forums, scientific forums. They are interested in the latest developments in

the field of education and career development, and use in their work literature, scientific journals, articles, including Internet. Therefore, the proposed measures geared towards this group are mainly related to their personal interests and career goals. Mentors’ impact: Mentors also benefit from their involvement in the process of mentoring. A business mentoring program will have an impact on their career development and will mostly stimulate their participation in Lifelong learning. The participation of professionals as mentors in a business mentoring platform will provide variety of benefits for them such as: 

    

encouraging a learning culture through mentoring, respectively companies will ensure that employees take an active role in spreading knowledge and best practices; increasing the corporate responsibility and new-hire onboarding to continue their goals of improving employee engagement, learning, and satisfaction; stimulating innovation, cultivating creativity, and steering business strategies; empowering the share of opinions, ideas, knowledge, and experiences on a level playing field; creating an environment of trust, belonging, understanding, support, and encouragement for the professionals; encouraging continual learning and gaining of up-to-date information on the latest business technologies and workplace trends.

Business mentors lever their knowledge and experience by providing advice, counsel, network contacts and political and cultural know-how, together with ongoing personal support and encouragement. The business mentor's interest is to foster the career development of the mentee. The primary beneficiary of a business mentoring program will be the mentee, but those who mentor can find themselves benefiting in unexpected ways. In the most successful business mentoring relationships there is always something in it for the mentor, not just for the mentee. Benefits for the business mentor can include:  

personal development – growing by growing others increased job satisfaction

 

honing of skills such as coaching, listening, giving feedback and adapting your leadership style development of self-knowledge and self-awareness.

While these may be "softer" benefits, there are also harder benefits that your mentee can deliver to you:   

sharing their network of contacts with you giving you a temperature check of the organization (what is really going on) raising your visibility within parts of the organization that would not otherwise be aware of you.

In summary the main impact for the mentee can be measured in:      

increased personal development, rich career opportunities and skills capacity in academic students; personalized, tailor-made informal approach towards academic students; development and introduction of innovative digital learning and teaching resources; establishment of mentoring centres and mentoring virtual environment; strengthened collaboration between academics, students and business, and as added value with European Union institutions; enhancement of innovation capacity and integration of new knowledge in the educational institutions.

5. Examples in Bulgaria ABLE The project ABLE Mentor aims to connect young professionals with high-school students and build a network of people, who are willing to share their experience, knowledge, personal challenges and aspirations. The project raises awareness among students about entrepreneurship as a means to overcome difficulties on the way to their goals. It makes information about career and academic development readily available. Finally, it helps students to dare make their first step to that long desired project. The ABLE Mentor team connects every high-school student in grades 10 and 11 with a mentor in the area of personal interest, who will motivate and inform the student, as Theyll as share his or her personal life experience. The program achieves its goals through the individual mentorship concept. After careful selection and training, every student is paired with a mentor, who has experience or is currently working in the field

that the student has interest in. For the next 4 months they work together on a project chosen by the student. There are three possible spheres for every project – social, personal development, or business idea. In the process students learn to better communicate, present, collaborate with institutions, structure projects, raise funding, etc.5 Junior Achievement The mission of Junior Achievement Bulgaria is to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business and economics to improve their quality of life. They motivate young people to be active and proactive and prepare them to know how and be able to realize their ideas in a competitive environment. Junior Achievement offers advanced programs and courses, developing knowledge and skills related to: leadership, economy, teamwork, business skills, financial literacy, career guidance, innovation and technology, presentation skills, and development of entrepreneurial spirit. The target group is young people from 6 to 25 years of age. Their methods of include interactivity, learning by doing, mentoring and involvement of practitioners of different professions in the educational process. Among Junior Achievement’s most popular events and competitions are Manager for a Day, Student Company, Rising Stars, Smart Start, Virtual Enterprise (JA TITAN), Innovation Camp.6 Business Women in Bulgaria Council The Council of Business Women in Bulgaria is a non-profit public organization. Its members are leading managers and representatives of companies and organizations in the country. Among the objectives of the Council are disseminating best practices and programs to promote the professional development of women in small and medium businesses and their growth in managerial positions; development and promotion of professional values in civil society, education, science, culture, art and technology; support for young professionals and talents to realize their potential in Bulgaria and supporting young people in disadvantaged in their education. Council of Business Women in Bulgaria gave an official launch of its first Mentorship program. The program is a continuation of the first Leadership Academy of the council, which ended 43 ladies of middle management positions or owners of small and medium business in Bulgaria. As mentors include 20 top managers of major Bulgarian and international companies. 5 6

ABLE Official Website, found at www.ablebulgaria.org Junior Achievement Official Website, www.jabulgaria.org

Among the objectives of the Council of women in business is to be a source of good practices and models of business conduct to be followed by women in the private sector. Council members showed serious intentions to the mentoring program, updated the knowledge and experience of professional training in mentoring, organized free of charge by the company Creative Shower. The activity of the council is voluntary and each member, ladies and gentlemen of the senior management positions of companies in the country, investing time, effort and resources to implement the Leadership Academy, its mentoring program and activities.7 Eleven Eleven is an accelerator and venture capital fund for early-stage enterprises. It provides entrepreneurial mentorship and expertise, platform/technology support and the critical first round of financial investment. With EUR 12 million of funding provided by the European Investment Fund (EIF) through the JEREMIE Program, Eleven is one of the biggest early stage investors in CEE. They are building a vibrant international community – a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs who come together to change the world. Our 150+ mentors bring practical, global business experience, consultation and connections to the 50+ companies They accelerate annually. Eleven is a member of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) and They are forging relationships with other startup hubs and resources across Europe and North America. Eleven accelerates the launch of startup teams and their ideas – enabling startup “escape velocity” (the inspiration behind our name: on the surface of earth, escape velocity is about 11 km/s). Eleven’s mission is to provide start-up teams with the acceleration of speed needed to break free of local restraints and become truly global. Startup teams find their first home at the Roof, Eleven’s headquarters in Sofia. Our expanding list of partners (including Telerik, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, TechStars, and Google) provide technology solutions and infrastructure support. Startup teams receive mentoring and consultation from a diverse pool of international business leaders and entrepreneurs of all levels. The teams also receive collaborative office space and critical seed funding. Eleven funds potent ideas with up to EUR 200k in incremental rounds, starting initially with EUR 25-50k. Capitalizing on the rich history and culture of Bulgaria and that of Sofia, increasingly recognized as an international capitol of technology innovation, Eleven is the first startup 7

Official Website of The Council of Women in Business, found at: www.womeninbusiness.bg

accelerator and seed venture fund founded in Eastern Europe. Located in the former Bulgarian Telephone Chamber building, the vast open space has been retrofitted into a vibrant, open, collaborative startup hub. The team at Eleven shares a common vision for startup success. They believe:  

  

It takes a village to raise a startup – successful startups need a strong support ecosystem, not just funding The investment process is ripe for change – funding needs to be open and incremental, supported through mentorship and counsel, so that great ideas can blossom into game changers Starting small and focusing only on what matters is the only way for startups to succeed Success begets success They believe that networking and mindshare provide the inspiration and elements needed to build a global network. Eleven sponsors a range of social venues including monthly lectures, networking events, conferences, and award ceremonies.8

CEED Bulgaria

CEED gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect with others entrepreneurs who have gone through similar experiences in a trusting environment. giving entrepreneurs the ability to connect with each other and share their experiences lets them know that they’re not alone and that there are others facing very similar problems. together CEED entrepreneurs are able to overcome their barriers and work together to grow their businesses and to create stronger local economies while connecting to the international CEED network. CEED embeds mentoring into its structured programs because people who have ‘been there’ can provide invaluable perspective. they have experienced the ups and downs, rewards and frustrations, successes and failures of starting and running a business, and they can tell an entrepreneur that what they’re experiencing is not new, but just part of the process. CEED has a rigorous recruiting process for finding and training the best mentors in each market and has facilitated over 1000 successful mentoring relationships since 2004. 8

Official Website of Eleven, found at: www.eleven.bg

CEED recruits internationally oriented entrepreneurs and enrolls them in experience sharing programs that provide practical growth-oriented training. They foster relationships and create a home for like-minded entrepreneurs to build a community. CEED offers a range of customized programs that are tailored for a company’s level of development, focusing on the knowledge and skills required to manage a growing company. Customer inspired innovation, speed to market and continuous product/process improvement are increasingly points of emphasis. Over 500 training sessions have been held since 2004.9

Business incubators Incubators are an essential element of the external environment in start-ups. In the US, Western Europe and other countries business incubators appear in the second half of last century. They are part of technology parks for advanced industries and services where members of experimental and development subsidiaries of global corporations as well as small and medium enterprises. "Incubators are designed as an integration tool providing" friendly "environment for new entrepreneurs."10 In Bulgaria incubators are also alternative form of assistance for the launch of small businesses and is mainly used in areas with permanently high unemployment. With various international aid were established such centers in Gabrovo and Gotse Delchev, Nova Zagora, Shumen, Rousse, Haskovo, Madan, Vidin and other cities. All these initiatives are supported by central and local state administrations. Using them basically boils down to providing small offices and production areas of existing municipal and state fund of preferential rental rates.

An essential role of business incubators in preparation firms to start. Insofar as incubators not invest in them, they are actually an important part of not financing and the preparation of the start-ups to obtain such. In this sense, they could be defined as mentors in the conceptual phase of enterprises.

Business incubators and science parks focused respectively on the young and more mature innovative enterprises are an important organizational form of support the growth of innovative entrepreneurship. By 2000, the world now has 4,000 business incubators and science parks. They are built, operated and owned by different types of organizations - universities, large venture capital companies, consulting firms, specialized operators. 9

CEED Official Website, found at: www.ceed-bulgaria.org Business Incubators, The Bulgarian Business Angels Network (BBAN), found at: www.bban.eu

10

Recently established and their specific forms - private incubators and incubators rent by former entrepreneurs who offer their expertise and assets (practically institutionalized act as mentors) or consulting organizations position themselves and develop their brand. As incubators provide services that are difficult to convert them into profitable building and sometimes operation of this type of aid organizations is assumed that should receive public subsidies.

Tenants of these centers receive multiple benefits: lower rents and flexible accommodation, check and change the rented area; good communication infrastructure and general conference facilities; free or subsidized business advisory services; relationships with potential clients and in general - a dynamic entrepreneurial environment. Additional role of incubators is that they provide the VCs concentrated source and quality of projects, while tenants have the opportunity to seek venture funding and to receive free advice on their strategies of potential investitori159. Subsequently developed links between enterprises tenants and funds allow unstrained sharing information and advice.

Disadvantages of boot camp

Require a long period of preparation (this is the basis of good results then, but not for every entrepreneur that time available). Most companies started from incubators have become big Incubators have no money to invest (but promote investor relations in a developed environment for this) Pessimists would indicate the low level of development of many of these elements as the reason for the failure of development of innovation clusters in Bulgaria. But clusters are by nature evolutionary phenomena whose development takes years. Undoubtedly, the key elements for the development of innovation clusters there - a functioning market economy, a large market (EU), educated workforce and significant level of technological activity, rising managerial class and the presence of venture capital at national and regional level.11

Innovation Centre "Saint John", built and operated by the University of Cambridge, is an example of successful business incubator - currently has over 50 tenants, with more than 100 enterprises have come out successfully from the incubator since its founding in 1987. The percentage of failing companies is only 15% (compared with 50% in the same 11

Sherman, Andrew J. Raising Capital: Get The Money You Need To Grow Your Business, 2nd Edition., Saranac Lake, NY, USA: AMACOM, 2005. p 83.

region), the center offers businesses help in seeking grants and venture financing and industrial partners and the shares of several former tenants are traded on stock exchanges in London and New York •

157

Най-големият международен технологичен парк в Европа е Soрhia Antipolis, гр. Кан във Франция. 158 сп. Социологически проблеми 1-2, 2001, кръгла маса „Социологическата експертиза между гражданското общество и държавата" (27-28 октомври 2000 г., Банкя) 159 Например Horizonte Venture Management - водещата компания за рисков капитал в Словения– е базирана в Научния парк - Любляна.

6. International Examples Mentorsme.co.uk mentorsme.co.uk is Britain’s first online gateway for small and medium-sized enterprises looking for mentoring services. The free site offers businesses access to a list of quality-assured business mentoring organizations across Britain. An easy-to-use search engine allows businesses to refine their searches according to the life stage of their business and their location in Britain. Our objective is to help businesses find a mentoring organization to suit their needs in a fast and easy way. The site also allows business professionals to offer their services as a business mentor via the mentoring organizations listed. Aspiring mentors may want to work in a particular area of Britain and have a particular area of expertise to offer. Our search engine allows them to locate mentoring organizations that are the closest match to their profile. mentorsme.co.uk also aims to raise awareness about the benefits of business mentoring through its library of online resources, which includes articles about mentoring and case studies of successful business mentoring relationships. mentorsme.co.uk is operated by the Business Finance Taskforce, which has been set up by the British Bankers’ Association and is made up of five banks: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander. The taskforce was established to help businesses access the finance they need to grow.

The Portal is intended to provide interested parties with a single, easy to use search engine to locate organizations that provide mentor services to small businesses and those interested in starting a business. Their aim is to provide users with access to all existing mentoring organizations and networks under one umbrella, whilst not duplicating or competing with the identities, relationships and services that such organizations already provide. Twenty/Twenty is the innovative business mentoring program from the DBA. “The time I have spent with my mentor has given me great insights into all aspects of leadership and has helped me realize the importance of dedicating time and resources to the project of ‘creating a business’.” Utilizing the wisdom and vision of design industry pioneers found within the DBA’s membership, the program inspires a new wave of leaders to make better informed decisions about their businesses, their people and themselves. “The matching process has been fantastic and my mentor has been an inspiring person to be working with.” “Twenty/Twenty has provided me with a structure where I am responsible to something bigger than just my clients, it has given me a focal point every month that helps drive me forward and keeps me on the right track.” The Aspire Foundation US and UK based The Aspire Foundation mentoring program is a practical way to share ideas, support and development between the business and nonprofit sectors. The Aspire Foundation mentoring program partners the expertise and experience of women leaders in the business and corporate world with aspiring women in the charity, non-profit and social enterprise world and allows you to share your ideas and suggestions of what has worked for you with regard to your life, management and leadership experience and so support your mentee to apply it to their specific role, career and organization. “45% of business women volunteer or do pro-bono work and 74% of business women who don’t do pro-bono work now would consider doing so.”

  

The satisfaction of supporting a woman in the nonprofit world to achieve her goals in her career, management and leadership. Get access to regular mentoring skills sessions to improve your mentoring capabilities. Be part of a global network of senior women making a difference.

There is no cost in becoming an Aspire Foundation mentor. The commitment is one hour per month for 6 months. The Aspire Foundation mentoring program aims to harness the expertise and experience of senior women in the business and corporate world to support women in the charity, not-for-profit and social enterprise world. Therefore, your mentor will share their ideas and suggestions of what has worked for them with regard to their career, management and leadership experience and they will provide you with support to apply it to your specific role, career and organization. The Benefits – 

 

Advice, encouragement and support from a senior woman in business around areas such as team management, communication, work/life balance and career planning. An external perspective from someone outside your sector. The opportunity to share your challenges and brainstorm ways to overcome them with an independent counsel.

There is no cost in becoming an Aspire Foundation mentee. The commitment is one hour per month for 6 months. Mowgly Mowgli is an award winning, UK-headquartered mentoring organization founded to support the sustainable development of societies through the mentoring and evolution of entrepreneurs and leaders. Mowgli provides mentoring that inspires, connects and guides entrepreneurs and leaders to overcome life's personal and business challenges. Entrepreneur/SME Program The incubation, development and support of sustainable entrepreneurship and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), is crucial to increasing employment and economic generation. They believe that there are 4 key elements required for an entrepreneurship ecosystem to enable and empoTheyr entrepreneurs to grow and succeed:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Environment; including society/culture, role models Finance; including angel investment, debt/loans, working capital Infrastructure; including government and policies, and property rights Human Capital; including capacity building, governance and mentoring

Mowgli’s primary motivation is economic and job creation. In the UK, when an SME leader is mentored, the business is twice as likely to surpass its fifth anniversary of being in business, therefore enhancing the business’ profitability, sustainability and ability to expand its workforce. By providing entrepreneurs and leaders with mentoring relationships that inspire and empoTheyr them to achieve their personal and business potential and by placing a mentoring culture at the heart of the entrepreneurship ecosystem, They believe that, together with our partners and sponsors, They can improve this statistic and positively change the common trend that only 20-25% of start ups survive. Our unique and unparalleled 12-month facilitated mentoring program, the Mowgli Mentoring Experience (MME) offers this very opportunity. The MME is a 12-month one-to-one and peer mentoring program, which begins with an intensive 3-day Kickstart workshop. Within this highly interactive and experiential workshop, a maximum of 15 entrepreneurs and 15 Mowgli trained mentors learn, connect, build relationships and are matched for their yearlong program of mutual growth and development. Together they will develop a working agreement that will form the basis of their mentoring relationship over the 12 months. How will you benefit? Entrepreneurs You will learn about the philosophies, principles and value of mentoring, connect with other budding entrepreneurs and be matched with a trained mentor who will support you in increasing your chances of sustainable growth and success, on both a personal and business level. Find out more about the transformational benefits that you can experience Mentors

It is central to Mowgli’s philosophy that their mentors gain as much value as those they mentor. The mentors also learn about philosophies, principles and value of mentoring and what it truly means to be of service to others. You will connect with other business leaders, will develop the skills that underpin all great mentors and will be given the tools to help you structure the working relationship with the entrepreneur.12 The Climbiz Mentorship Program The aim of the Mentorship Program is to support the participating Ventures through guidance, strategic perspectives and sector specific know-how. By doing so, the CLIMBIZ Challengers get the advice, skills and networks necessary to advance their mission and scale up. But most importantly, CLIMBIZ Challengers are part of a growing network of supporters and peers. The Mentors-Pool of the CLIMBIZ Acceleration Program is comprised of distinguished individuals from expert organizations, companies and academia across Central and Eastern Europe. With this unique group of professionals, their wealth of experience, contacts and know-how, the CLIMBIZ Challengers will be best guided through the Acceleration Program. 13 WoMentor The mission of "WoMentor" is gender equality through mentoring. The European Federation of Mentoring for Girls and Women (short: WoMentor) was established in 2008 in Austria. It has 14 members from 10 different countries. WoMentor objectives are: reduction of gender gaps in employment and payment; gender segregation; equal work and career opportunities; balance in private and family life. WoMentor supports memberorganizations, also from outside of EU.

The project WE:MENTOR brings together experienced program co-ordinators and less experienced co-ordinators of mentoring programs (particularly focused on women) together in order to share knowledge and best practice in order to increase the potential quality of programs provided for both mentors and mentees. Main aim was to encourage participants to combine their new knowledge of these methods and ideas for future activities and implement them in new lifelong learning projects. A series of practical workshops ran throughout the partnership, facilitated by partners with the most experience in that particular field. Possibilities like mentoring volunteers and ICT tools for 12 13

Mowgli Mentoring Official Website, found at: www.mowgli.org.uk Climbiz Official Website, found at: www.climbiz.org

future mentors and program leaders were introduced and encouraged them to use these tools and therefore brought more innovation and variety into the field of mentoring.

The project led to greater European co-operation between mentoring coordinators, their organizations, mentors and female mentees across Europe. Through sharing knowledge and experiences gained in different countries and cultures, the partnership also developed greater awareness of the cultural experiences of mentors and female mentees across Europe which led to greater understanding of differences as strengths. Running mentoring programs (and in particular those focused on women) involves specialist experience and expertise which is often costly and timely to acquire through formal training and education. In addition, mentoring programs are often run by social and voluntary organizations where individuals may be trainers or individuals from a variety of non-related occupations. As a result many mentoring program are run by inexperienced coordinators who often have to learn ‘on the job’. Whilst this can be an effective method for learning, it can be time-consuming for the learners (coordinators) and can mean that best practice is not embedded in the program as there is not the opportunity for the coordinator to ensure they are following best practice approaches or guidelines, usually through lack of awareness. Due to the amount of information available on mentoring in an academic sense, it is often difficult for coordinators to find sources of information and training aimed at providing ‘hands on’ approaches to learning about coordinating mentoring programs to ensure the best experience for mentors and mentees. There was therefore a need to bring together experienced program coordinators and less experienced coordinators of mentoring programs (particularly focused on women) together in order to share knowledge and best practice in order to increase the potential quality of programs provided for both mentors and mentees. Also, partners of the project found in their discussions that mentors and mentoring programs use new innovative and non-traditional methods for mentoring rarely and reluctantly. So they introduced different possibilities like ICT tools for future mentors and program leaders and encouraged them to use these tools and therefore bring more innovation and variety into the field of mentoring. What is more, it is very difficult to write projects about innovative methods (ICT tools, mentoring volunteers) if the writer is not so familiar with the subject. WE:MENTOR therefore aimed to encourage participants to

combine their new knowledge of these methods and ideas for future activities and implement them in new lifelong learning projects.14 Conclusion The analysis of business mentoring programs available in Bulgaria and in other developed European countries show that mentoring programs are primarily available as part of specific mentoring organizations, or as part of business incubators. This would mean that businesses have to look for outsourced sources for mentoring rather than relying on internal mentoring programs. As this is reasonable for SMEs, it is rather challenging for large organizations. The benefits of mentoring as a personal and career development tool are inevitable. This is why businesses should use the sources available as a know-how on mentoring, but for better effectiveness should introduce internal mentoring programs. Reference

14

Official website of Womentor – European Federation for Mentoring of Girls and Women, found at: www.womentor.eu